Method for searching data in at least two databases

ABSTRACT

A method and database system is disclosed for searching data in at least two databases (D n ), particularly for searching telephone directories or the like. To allow simultaneous access to two or more databases by means of speech recognition in order to perform a search therein as in a single database, a search term is input by speech via a voice controlled user interface ( 28 ) connected to a database primary control apparatus ( 26 ) and comprises speech recognition front end means ( 8, 9 ) for processing a sound sequence of a search term input by speech to obtain a comparable speech pattern (X) thereof. By means of speech recognition back end means ( 6 ) associated with databases (D 1 -D 6 ), the comparable speech pattern (X) is compared with corresponding speech patterns (A n,i ) of database entries (E n,i ) to determine for each of the at least two databases (D n ) at least that database entry (E n,j ) the speech pattern (A n,j ) which best matches the comparable speech pattern (X) of the search term.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is for entry into the U.S. national phase under §371for International Application No. PCT/IB02/02345 having an internationalfiling date of Jun. 24, 2002, and from which priority is claimed underall applicable sections of Title 35 of the United States Code including,but not limited to, Sections 120, 363 and 365(c), and which in turnclaims priority under 35 USC §119 to European Patent Application No.01115811.0 filed on Jun. 28, 2001.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to a method for searching for data in at least twodatabases, in particular for searching for telephone directory, addressbook or appointments diary entries or the like in at least two telephonedirectory, address book or appointments diary databases or the like, andalso to a database system having at least two databases which isparticularly suitable for carrying out the inventive method forsearching for data.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

As electronic devices such as mobile telephones, that is to say cartelephones and ‘mobiles’, cordless telephones, which communicate via abase station connected to the landline network, electronic notebooks andPCs, which contain databases, such as personal telephone directories,appointments diaries, personal address books, task lists and the like,become more and more widespread, there is the increasing problem that auser needs to manage various electronic telephone directories and/orelectronic appointments diaries. If a user uses a cordless telephonewith an electronic telephone directory at home in his apartment, forexample, then the electronic telephone directory primarily storesprivate telephone numbers, whereas his work mobile primarily stores worktelephone numbers. Further telephone directory entries may be stored inthe car telephone, and if he/she additionally uses a private mobiletelephone or mobile as well, this contains further, private and worktelephone numbers. In this context, important telephone numbers arefrequently stored in a plurality of communication devices used by theuser, while other telephone numbers can be found only in a single one ofthe personal telephone directories in each case. In addition, the usermay also have access to electronic telephone directories in his privateand/or workplace PC.

In addition, a lot of mobile telephones operated with a SIM card(subscriber identity module) have the facility to store telephonedirectory entries either in the memory of the SIM card or in a furthermemory of the appliance itself. This is the case with the Nokia 9110Communicator, for example. While the SIM card can hold 125 entries inthe case of the current prior art, several 100 to several 1000 entriescan be made in the memory area of the Nokia 9110 Communicator, dependingon the additional memory used.

Parallel access to the various memory areas or the various electronictelephone directories is currently not possible, which means that a usermust either constantly coordinate all his available telephonedirectories with one another if he wants to have all telephone numbersconstantly available, or he needs to search through the individualelectronic telephone directories one after the other. The problemdescribed in this case in connection with electronic telephonedirectories with mobile and cordless telephones also concerns, by way ofexample, address books, appointments diaries and other databases whichare provided in PCs, electronic appointments diaries and planners andthe like, however.

DE 196 44 104 C1 discloses a communication device which has a main datamemory in a mobile telephone and has a call number memory in a voicedialing unit connected to the mobile telephone by means of a cable. Inthis context, the main data memory serves as a database for a personaltelephone directory, while the call number memory stores some of thedata recorded in the personal telephone directory, which data can beused to access the telephone directory entries in order to select astored telephone number. In this case, the main data memory has accessto the call number memory and is able to change and/or add to entereddata in order to ensure that the telephone numbers stored in the maindata memory can be reliably accessed using the call number memory.

It is not necessary to search through the two interconnected memoriessimultaneously in this case, since the call number memory does notrepresent another personal telephone directory, but rather only a datalist which stores for telephone directory entries in the main datamemory the name of the entry and the memory location.

Further, although speech recognition becomes more and more popular forcontrolling electronic devices like mobile telephones. PCs, electronicappointments diaries and planners and the like, user interfaces usingspeech recognition are usually only used in systems having the databasesstored in the same device.

If speech control via communication links is today done, then it is doneby transferring the voice stream via the communication link, which needsa rather high data rate and also a separate voice link. Examples areautomatic voice recognition systems used in the telephone network forcustomer inquiry.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Against this background, the invention is based on the object to providea method and a database system of the initially named kind which allowssimultaneous access to two or more databases by means of speechrecognition in order to be able to perform a search therein as in asingle database.

This object is achieved by searching data in at least two databases(D_(n)), in particular for searching telephone directory, address bookor organizer entries or the like in at least two telephone directory,address book or organizer databases or the like, comprising the stepsof: inputting a search term by speech; processing a sound sequence ofthe search term to obtain a comparable speech pattern (X) thereof;comparing the comparable speech pattern (X) of the search term withcorresponding speech patterns (A_(n,i)) of database entries (E_(n,i)) todetermine for each entry (E_(n,i)) of the at least two databases (D_(n))a measure m(X,A_(n,i)) for the matching distance between the comparedspeech patterns to determine at least that database entry (E_(n,j)) ofeach database (D_(n)) the speech pattern (A_(n,j)) of which matches thecomparable speech pattern (X) of the search term best; selecting thatdatabase entry (E_(p,j)) the speech pattern (A_(p,j)) of which matchesthe comparable speech pattern (X) of the search term best from theentries (E_(n,j)) determined in the previous step by searching thatmeasure m_(n)(X,A_(n,j)) that indicates the best matching speech patternof the database entries; and outputting an identifier of that databaseentry (E_(p,j)) that has been selected in the previous step. This objectis also achieved by a database system characterized in that said speechrecognition middle part means (7) comprises comparing means forcomparing measures m_(n)(X,A) for the matching distances between thecompared speech patterns and for selecting that database entry (E) thespeech pattern of which matches the comparable speech pattern of thesearch term best. Advantageous developments of the method and of thedatabase system are described in the respective subordinate subclaims.

The inventive method is distinguished by inputting a search term byspeech, processing a sound sequence of the search term to obtain acomparable speech pattern thereof, comparing the comparable speechpattern with corresponding speech patterns of database entries todetermine for each of the at least two databases at least that databaseentry the speech pattern of which matches the comparable speech patternof the search term best selecting that database entry the speech patternof which matches the comparable speech pattern of the search term bestfrom the entries determined in the previous step, and outputting anidentifier of that database entry that has been selected in the previousstep.

According to the present invention it is possible to conduct a speechrecognition based search through a plurality of databases, in particularof telephone directory, address book or organizer databases distributedon several devices connected by digital communication links in such away as all the databases form an integral single database. Therefore, itis not necessary for a user to update each of his/her telephonedirectories or address books.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention it isprovided that for each database a respective table is set up thatcontains all database entries in the order in which their speech patternphonetically match the speech pattern of the search term. Due to settingup tables organized in a phonetical order it is possible to cycle orscroll through the databases for searching specific entries not in analphabetic but in a phonetical or acoustical order. Therefore, it ispossible to search names even in the case that the user only remembersthe entered name and how it sounds but forgot how it was correctlyspelled.

In general, each kind of comparable speech pattern can be used with theinventive method. However, it is preferred that processing the soundsequence of the search term results in a phoneme sequence used as acomparable speech pattern.

An advantageous provision is that the comparable speech pattern of thesearch term is compared with the comparable speech patterns of databaseentries to determine for each entry of a database a measure for thematching distance between the compared speech patterns, and at leastthat database entry the comparable speech pattern of which matches thecomparable speech pattern of the search term best is determined bysearching that measure that indicates the best matching speech patternof the database entries, wherein that measure that indicates the closestmatching distance between the compared speech patterns is determined inaccordance with the following equation m_(n)(X,A_(n,j))<m(X,A_(n,i)) forall i≠j, wherein i=1, 2, . . . k_(n) and k_(n) the number of entries ofn^(th) database.

The use of a measure that is related to the matching distance betweenthe compared speech patterns makes it easy to set up a table thatcontains the entries of a database in a phonetical order, i.e. in theorder of increasing or decreasing matching distances. The measure can beany kind of metric that depends on the specific kind of comparablespeech pattern. If the speech pattern of a sound sequence uttered by auser is regarded as a kind of vector, the metric can simply be thedifference of two vectors describing the sound pattern.

In case that the measure indicating the matching distance between thesound pattern of a database entry and the sound pattern of the searchterm is just the same for each database, it is possible that themeasures indicating the best matching database entries of each databaseare compared to select that database entry the speech pattern of whichmatches the comparable speech pattern of the search term best.

Alternatively, it is possible that the comparable speech pattern of thesearch term is compared with the comparable speech patterns of thatdatabase entries that have been determined as that of the respectivedatabases that matches the search term best to determine for each ofthese entries a measure for the matching distance between the comparedspeech patterns, and at least that database entry that matches thesearch term best of all is determined by searching that measure thatindicates the best matching speech pattern of all the database entriesof all databases, wherein that measure that indicates the closestmatching distance between the compared speech patterns is determined inaccordance with the following equation m_(h)(X,A_(p,j))<m(X,A_(n,j)) forall n≠p, wherein n=1, 2, . . . q and q is the number of databases to besearched. In the latter case, it is not necessary that the same metricor the same way of generating a measure is used for each database.Therefore, this makes it possible to use the inventive method withoutharmonizing the several processes of calculating the measures used fordetermining the entry with the best matching sound pattern.

Another development of the invention is characterized in that theidentifier of that database entry the speech pattern of which matchesthe comparable speech pattern of the search term best is entered as asearch term for an alphanumeric search through the connected databases,on the basis of the entered search term, the predecessor or a pluralityof predecessors and the successor or a plurality of successors to thesearch term and, if available, the search term itself from each of thedatabases are stored in a search table, and the search term, if storedin the search table, or that term from the successors stored in thesearch table which comes closest after the entered search term isdisplayed.

The combination of a speech recognition based search with analphanumeric or text based search improves the flexibility of searchingentries in a plurality of databases available in a specific environmentand linked by any kind of communication links, in particular any kind ofdigital communication links.

The invention makes it possible to search simultaneously, quickly andconveniently in two or more databases by combining the databases intoone database system in which each of the databases has an associateddatabase control device.

In this case, the database system also comprises at least two databases,each of which has an associated database control device including speechrecognition back end means for comparing comparable speech patterns, adatabase primary control apparatus which can be connected to thedatabase control devices for the purposes of transmitting data includingcomparable speech patterns and control commands to the database controldevices and receiving them therefrom, which has a speech recognitionmiddle part means as well as an associated search table memory which isable to store data transmitted from the database control devices, and avoice controlled user interface for inputting control commands andsearch terms so as to control the system and simultaneously search datain the connected database, the user interface is connected to thedatabase primary control apparatus and comprises speech recognitionfront end means for processing a sound sequence of a search term inputby speech to obtain a comparable speech pattern.

According to an advantageous refinement of the invention the speechrecognition front end means comprises processing means for obtaining aphoneme sequence as comparable speech pattern.

Another development of the invention is characterized in that the speechrecognition back end means comprises comparing means for comparingspeech patterns, for determining a measure for the matching distancebetween the compared speech patterns as well as for determining thatentry of the database the comparable speech pattern of which matches thecomparable speech pattern of the search term best.

Alternatively the speech recognition middle part means comprisescomparing means for comparing measures for the matching distancesbetween the compared speech patterns and for selecting that databaseentry the speech pattern of which matches the comparable speech patternof the search term best.

An advantageous provision is that the database primary control apparatusis connected to a database access interface to which the databasecontrol devices of the databases can be connected for the purpose ofinterchanging data, comparable speech pattern, e. g. phoneme sequencesor the like, and control commands using communication links. In thiscase, the communication links provided may be radio links, such asradio-frequency interfaces operating at radio frequencies, e.g. with ashort range on the basis of a Bluetooth standard, with a long range onthe basis of the GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) or UMTS standard(Universal Mobile Telecommunication System), infrared links or elsewired links.

The invention can, in principle, be used for all databases from whoseentries comparable speech patterns can be calculated or whose entriesinclude a comparable speech pattern. On the basis of the main area ofapplication of the present invention, namely communication, provision ismade for the databases to be telephone directory, address book and/orappointments diary databases.

In this case, it is particularly expedient if the databases are providedon various apparatuses, at least one of which is a telephone, inparticular a mobile telephone, with the database primary controlapparatus being provided in the telephone, e. g. in the mobile telephoneor in the car phone. In this case, the user interface of the telephone,that is to say its various input and output facilities, such as voicecommand input unit and keypad and also screen and voice output unit, canbe used as the user interface for the database system.

In another development of the invention, a plurality of database primarycontrol apparatuses are provided, each of which is arranged in adifferent apparatus.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is explained in more detail below by way of example withreference to the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a plurality of electronicappliances which communicate with one another and contain databases,

FIG. 2 shows a schematic block diagram of the arrangement of theindividual database memories in the electronic appliances,

FIG. 3 shows a schematic block diagram of the inventive database system,

FIG. 4 a to 4 c show tables to illustrate database entries in variousdatabases, and

FIG. 5 a to 5 c show tables to illustrate database entries in variousdatabases.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In various figures of the drawing, mutually corresponding elements areprovided with identical reference symbols.

FIG. 1 shows two mobile telephones, namely a car telephone 10 with ahandset 11 connected to a telephone 13 by means of a line 12, and a‘mobile’ or ‘cellular phone’, called mobile telephone 15 below. Themobile telephone 15 is connected to the car telephone 10 via radiointerface 14, in particular via a digital radio interface, e. g. via abluetooth interface. In addition, a watch 16 is provided as a furtherelectronic appliance with a database, the watch 16 containing anelectronic notebook which also comprises a telephone directory database.The electronic notebook in the watch 16 is connected to the cartelephone 10 via a further radio interface 17.

As FIG. 2 shows schematically, the car telephone 10 contains a voicerecognition front end means 9 of a voice recognition system used withthe present invention and three memories on which telephone directorydatabases, called telephone directory or directories for short below,are recorded. A SIM card 18 in the handset 11 and a SIM card 19 in thetelephone 13 and also a memory of the telephone 13, for example in theform of an electronically erasable, programmable read-only memory(EEPROM), store three different telephone directories D₁, D₂, D₃physically separately from one another. The mobile telephone 15comprises two telephone directories D₄, D₅, one of which is stored inthe memory 21 of the mobile telephone set itself and the other of whichis stored on the SIM card 22. The watch 16 comprises a user interfacewith another voice recognition front end means 8 and a static memory 23with random access (static RAM), in which a further personal telephonedirectory D₆ is stored.

The telephone directories D₁, D₂, D₃, D₄, D₅, D₆ stored on the SIM cards18, 19, 22 and in the memories 20, 21, 23 have associated databasecontrol devices, called control devices 18′, 19′, 20′, 21′, 22′, 23′ orslaves for short below, each of which comprises a speech recognitionback end means 6 of the speech recognition system used with the presentinvention (cf. FIG. 3). The control devices 18′, 19′, 20′ for thetelephone directories D₁, D₂, D₃ of the car telephone 10 are connectedby means of wired links 24 to a database or telephone directory accessinterface 25 which sets up data transfer links between the controldevices or slaves 18′-23′ and a central database primary controlapparatus 26, called master 26 for short below.

The master 26, which is accommodated in the car telephone 10 in theexemplary embodiment shown, comprises a speech recognition middle part 7of the speech recognition system and is connected to a user interface 28including the voice recognition front end 9. The user interface 28 inthis case is formed by the user interface of the handset 11. Further,the master is connected to a search table memory 27 for storing databaseentries or identifiers and/or comparable speech patterns thereofdetermined by a search through several databases. Such a search tablememory 27, the structure of which will be explained hereinafter in moredetail, is suitable for supporting a scrolling function that allows theuser to scroll through the database entries.

Alternatively, the master 26 may be provided together with the searchtable memory 27 in the mobile telephone 15. In this case, the userinterface of the mobile telephone 15 then serves as user interface 28.It is also possible for two central database primary control apparatusesor masters 26 to be provided, which can then be used to access thetelephone directories D₁-D₆ virtually simultaneously. In the case of twomasters, it is also possible that only one of the masters 26 providesaccess to the telephone directories D₁-D₆.

Furthermore, since the watch 16 is provided with a voice recognitionfront end 8 as shown in the drawings the user interface of the watch 16can be used as user interface 28. It should be noted that the differentfunctions of the described system can be distributed in differentmanners to the different devices and apparatuses.

The inventive method for searching data will now be explained by way ofexample. FIGS. 4 a to 4 c show the entries in telephone directories D1,D5 and D6 provided in the car telephone 10, the mobile telephone 15 andthe watch 16, respectively. For the sake of clarity, the directories D1,D5, D6 are shown as simple lists of identifiers, i.e. names of persons,companies, restaurants or the like. Each identifier is associated withan entry of a directory that can include one or more telephone numbersthe address or addresses of a specific person or company, as well asmore than one identifier. In particular, it is possible to provide forexample two fields for identifiers for each entry in a database so thata person can be identified by her/his given name and/or surname. Inaddition, such a structure of the entries can be used to provide easyaccess to telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, street addresses and thelike of different employees of the same company.

The structure of telephone directories, address books, organizer or notebook databases are well known in the art and it is possible to modifythem in various manners. Depending on the structure of the identifyingitems, the search can optionally be performed either through all kindsof identifier fields or through a specific one. However, the followingdescription of the present invention will be made with reference to onlyone identification field for each database entry. Further, it issupposed that each identifier is associated with a comparable speechpattern. Such a comparable speech pattern can be either stored in therespective database entry or can be generated from the identifier itselfe. g. by text to speech conversion means or the like. Irrespective ofthe way the speech pattern A_(n,i) associated with a database entryE_(n,i) is obtained, the speech pattern A_(n,i) is always mentioned asthe speech pattern of an entry E_(n,i).

If, by way of example, the telephone directory entry for ALEX, i.e. thefirst entry in the example of FIG. 4 b, is to be ascertained in thedirectories D1, D5, D6, the name ALEX is uttered by a user and thereforeinput as a search term by speech. The sound sequence received by thevoice recognition front end of the user interface 28 is processed toobtain a comparable speech pattern X of the search term ALEX. Thecomparable speech pattern X can be of any suitable form, for example thespeech pattern X can be the phoneme sequence. However, it is alsopossible to use a speech to text conversion means so that the comparablespeech pattern would be the search term as an alphanumeric sequence ofcharacters. Furthermore, it is also possible to store a spoken soundsequence together with the identifier in alphanumeric form for eachentry and to compare the sound sequence that is processed to improve thecomparability thereof with the stored sound sequence processed in thesame way.

After generating a comparable speech pattern X of the search term, thiscomparable speech pattern is transmitted to the control devices 18′,22′, 23′ of the active databases D1, D5 and D6 (to simplify thedescription the databases D2-D4 are supposed as inactive).

In the control devices or slaves 18′, 22′, 23′ the respective speechrecognition back end means 6 compare the comparable speech pattern Xwith each comparable speech pattern A of each database entry E of eachdirectory D_(n) separately to determine a measure m(X,A) for alldatabase entries. These measures indicate the matching distances betweenthe compared speech patterns X,A. After obtaining a measure m(X,A) foreach entry in a specific database D1, D5, D6 the respective slaves 18′,22′, 23′ set up internally a table which contains all the directoryentries E_(n,i) of the respective database D_(n) in the order in whichthey match the comparable speech pattern of the search term. Thereafter,the first, or the first two or three best matching entries of eachdatabase D_(n) are transmitted back to the master 26 together with thecorresponding sound patterns A.

The best matching entry m_(n)(X, A_(n,j)) is determined as the smallestmeasure of all entries E_(n,i) of the directory D_(n) in accordance withthe following equation m_(n)(X,A_(n,j))<m(X,A_(n,i)) for all i≠j,wherein i=1, 2, . . . k_(n) and k_(n) the number of entries of nthdatabase (D_(n)).

In case that the measure m(X,A) of the matching distance betweencompared speech patterns, is obtained in the same way for each directoryD_(n), it is possible that the best matching speech pattern of alldatabases or directories D_(n) can be obtained by simply comparing themeasures sent from the slaves 18′, 22′, 23′ to the master in accordancewith the following equation m_(h)(X,A_(p,j))<m(X,A_(n,j)) for all n≠p,wherein n=1, 2, . . . q and q is the number of databases (D_(n)) to besearched.

However, usually each slave 18′ to 23′, i.e. the speech recognition backend means 6 thereof uses its own system for obtaining the measure. Inthis case, the speech recognition middle part means 7 of the master 26calculates its own measures m(X,A) for each sound pattern associatedwith the entries sent from the slaves 18′ to 23′ in response to thesearch request.

Thereafter, the speech recognition middle part means 7 of the master 26sets up a table which contains the database entries sent to the masterin response to the search request in the order in which theyphonetically match the search term. This table is stored in the searchtable memory 27. In the above example where the search term is ALEX, theslave 18′ of the directory D1 sends the entries ADAC and HALALI to themaster 26. Slaves 22′ and 23′ of the directories D5 and D6 of the mobileand the watch, respectively send the entries ALEX, ANDY and ALICE backto the master 26. Upon setting up the table of these entries in theorder of increasing matching distances, these entries are stored in thefollowing order in the search table memory 27: ALEX, ALICE, ANDY,HALALI, ADAC. Thus, ALEX has been determined as best matching entry thatwill be output by the user interface 28 by showing this entry on thedisplay. Instead of or in addition to displaying the name ALEX of theentry with the best matching sound pattern, it is possible to output thename ALEX by speech. Further, it is possible to display not only thebest matching entry but also some of the other entries contained in thetable stored in the search table memory 27 in dependence on thecapability of the display used.

After inputting the search term ALEX, it is also possible that ALICE isdetermined as having the best matching sound pattern with the soundpattern X of the search term ALEX due to background noise or variationsin pronouncing the name ALEX. In this case, when three or five of thebest matching entries are output on the display, it is possible for auser to scroll to the list of the best matching entries stored in thesearch table memory 27 in a usual manner.

Therefore, it is possible to find the desired entry in all directoriesor databases D_(n) which are connected to the system.

Therefore, a seamless integration of multiple databases to a speechrecognition based search is possible so that downloading orsynchronizing of all database entries into one central device can beavoided. The inventive method makes it possible to control a searchthrough any kinds of electronic databases like telephone directories oraddress books or the like on SIM cards, in random access memories, inEEPROMS, on harddrives of computers etc. An essential advantage of usingthe inventive method is that the master 26 and the user interface onlyneeds relative low RAM capacities.

Although the inventive method of searching data entries based on speechinput in a reliable manner, it is further possible to combine thisspeech recognition based search with an alphanumeric search using thedifferent databases or directories D_(n) in the alphabetic order. Inthis case, after determining this entry of all active directories D_(n),the sound pattern of which matches that of the search term best and uponsetting up the above-mentioned table by the master 26, i.e. the speechrecognition middle part means 7 the user can select one of the displayedentries, i.e. the identifier thereof for a text based search through alldirectories. This search will be described in connection with FIGS. 5 ato 5 c that shows the identifiers of the databases D1 to D3 as names ofGerman, Finnish and American cities. For the sake of clarity, thetelephone numbers and other terms stored in the databases or telephonedirectory entries are not shown and the databases D4-D6 are supposed asinactive.

If, by way of example, the identifier SAN FRANCISCO found by a speechrecognition based search in the directory D3 shown in FIG. 5 a has beenselected as search term for an alphanumeric search the primary controlapparatus 26 transmits the character sequence of the search term as asearch query via the access interface 25 to the control devices 18′ to20′. For the search term SAN FRANCISCO the control device 18′ ascertainsMUNICH as the previous entry and BERLIN as the next entry in thedirectory D1. Accordingly, the control device 19′ finds SALO as theprevious entry and SANGINJOKI as the next entry in the telephonedirectory D2, while the control device 20′ finds NEW YORK as theprevious entry. SAN FRANCISCO as the current and SAN JOSE as the nextentry. The control devices 18′ to 20′ then supply the primary controlapparatus 26 with the names or identifier which have been found.Depending on the capacity of the search table memory 27 each identifiercan be transmitted with the complete terms of the entries or only with aunique identification number that ensures access to the selected entryof the directories D_(n). The names or identifier of the entries foundare stored together with the identification information (not shown) in asearch table in the search table memory 27, as shown in the table below.

TABLE I Search direction EEPROM SIM 1 SIM 2 Previous NEW YORK SALOMUNICH Current SAN FRANCISCO — — Next SAN JOSE SANGINJOKI BERLIN

If the user now wants to cycle or scroll through the telephonedirectories starting with the telephone directory entry SAN FRANCISCOwhich is displayed to him, he is able to use appropriate search keys,rotary knobs or the like of the user interface 28 to enter the searchdirection previous or next. If he selects next, then the primary controlapparatus 26 finds the term SANGINJOKI in the search table as theclosest successor to the search term SAN FRANCISCO and displays the termSANGINJOKI. At the same time, the term SANGINJOKI is transmitted to thecontrol devices D1-D3 in order to establish the associated previous andnext terms. In addition, the primary control apparatus 26 asks thecontrol device D1 to transmit the full telephone directory entry forSANGINJOKI. Following updating, the search table below is produced.

TABLE II Search direction EEPROM SIM 1 SIM 2 Previous SAN FRANCISCO SALOMUNICH Current — SANGINJOKI — Next SAN JOSE TURKU BERLIN

If the search direction next is then selected, the new search termproduced is SAN JOSE, while, for the search direction previous, the termSAN FRANCISCO would again be found. If, however, the previous term isselected on the basis of search table I, the new search term becomesSALO, and the search table below is produced.

TABLE III Search direction EEPROM SIM 1 SIM 2 Previous NEW YORK OULOMUNICH Current — SALO — Next SAN FRANCISCO SANGINJOKI BERLIN

If the user continues to cycle or scroll in the direction previous, thenew search term produced is OULO, for which the predecessor andsuccessor are then sought in the telephone directory D2 from which thenew search term originates, and the primary control apparatus 26retrieves the telephone directory entry from the telephone directory D2using the control device 19′.

TABLE IV Search direction EEPROM SIM 1 SIM 2 Previous NEW YORK NOKKAMUNICH Current — OULO — Next SAN FRANCISCO SALO BERLIN

It is thus evident that the inventive method can be used to scrollthrough a plurality of telephone directories as through a singletelephone directory organized alphabetically. The user is thus accessinga virtual telephone directory which contains the entries from allconnected telephone directories in strictly alphabetical order. If theprimary control apparatus has a sufficiently large search table memory27 available, it is also possible to ascertain not one predecessor andone successor to the search term for each telephone directory, butrather two or more predecessors and two or more successors, and to storethem in the search table memory 27, which allows the response speed ofthe inventive method to be increased further.

With an appropriately high storage capacity and high data transfer ratesbetween primary control apparatus 26 and the control devices D_(n), itis also possible for not only the names of the telephone directoryentries but the full telephone directory entries for the predecessor andsuccessor to be transferred and stored in the search table memory. Inthis case, it would also be possible for not just the name of thetelephone directory entry but also, at the same time, the associatedtelephone number to be displayed to the user.

The inventive database system may also be extended in a simple manner byconnecting additional telephone directory databases, so long as thecapacity of the search table memory 27 is sufficient. If, by way ofexample, the mobile telephone 15 is brought into the area of the cartelephone 10, so that the radio interface 14 can be used to interchangedata between the mobile telephone 15 and the car telephone 10, thecontrol devices 18′, 19′ for the telephone directories D1, D2 registerwith the primary control apparatus 26, which then also includes thenewly registered telephone directories D1, D2 when subsequentlysearching in the telephone directories. If the link between the cartelephone 10 and the mobile telephone 15 is interrupted, then theprimary control apparatus 26 establishes that the telephone directoriesD1, D2 are no longer available, and searches only in the connectedtelephone directories, as described above.

If a database, e.g. the telephone directory D6, is registered in adatabase system by its control device 23′ while a search is beingcarried out in the databases or telephone directories, that is to saywhile a user is scrolling through the databases or telephonedirectories, the primary control apparatus 26 transmits, in response toregistration of the database or of the telephone directory D6, thecurrent search term together with a search query to the control device23′, which then performs a corresponding search in the telephonedirectory D6 and transmits the terms found in the course of this back tothe primary control apparatus 26 for the purpose of writing them intothe search table, where these terms are handled in the same manner asthe others. The inventive method thus permits a smooth search in thedatabases of a database system even when databases are being added orremoved.

1. A method for searching data in at least two databases comprising:inputting a search term by speech, processing a sound sequence of thesearch term to obtain a comparable speech pattern thereof, comparing thecomparable speech pattern of the search term with corresponding speechpatterns of database entries to determine for each entry of the at leasttwo databases a measure for the matching distance between the comparedspeech patterns to determine at least that database entry of eachdatabase the speech pattern of which matches the comparable speechpattern of the search term best, selecting that database entry thespeech pattern of which matches the comparable speech pattern of thesearch term best from the entries determined previously by searchingthat measure that indicates the best matching speech pattern of thedatabase entries, and outputting an identifier of that database entrythat has been selected previously, wherein the identifier of thatdatabase entry is entered as a search term for an alphanumeric searchthrough the at least two databases, wherein on the basis of the enteredsearch term, the predecessor or a plurality of predecessors and thesuccessor or a plurality of successors to the search term and, ifavailable, the search term itself from each of the databases are storedin a search table memory, and the search term, if stored in the searchtable memory, or that term from the successors stored in the searchtable memory which comes closest after the entered search term, isdisplayed.
 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein for each database arespective table is set up that contains all database entries in theorder in which their speech pattern phonetically match the speechpattern of the search term.
 3. A method according to claim 1, whereinprocessing the sound sequence of the search term results in a phonemesequence used as comparable speech pattern.
 4. A method according toclaim 1, wherein the measure that indicates the closest matchingdistance between the compared speech patterns is determined inaccordance with the following equation:m _(n)(X,A _(n,j))<m(X,A _(n,i)) for all i≠J wherein i =1, 2, . . .k_(n) and k_(n) is the number of entries of n^(th) database and m is themeasure.
 5. A method according to claim 1, wherein the measuresindicating the best matching database entries of each database arecompared to select that database entry the speech pattern of whichmatches the comparable speech pattern of the search term best.
 6. Amethod according to claim 1, wherein the comparable speech pattern ofthe search term is compared with the comparable speech patterns of thosedatabase entries that have been determined as that of the respectivedatabases that match the search term best to determine for each of theseentries a measure for the matching distance between the compared speechpatterns, and at least that database entry that matches the search termbest of all is determined by searching that measure that indicates thebest matching speech pattern of all the database entries of alldatabases.
 7. A method according to claim 6, wherein the measure thatindicates the closest matching distance between the compared speechpatterns is determined in accordance with the following equation:m _(h)(X,A _(p,j))<m(X,A _(n,j)) for all n≠p wherein n =1, 2, . . . qand q is the number of databases to be searched.
 8. A device forsearching data in at least two databases comprising: means for inputtinga search term by speech, means for processing a sound sequence of thesearch term to obtain a comparable speech pattern thereof, means forcomparing the comparable speech pattern of the search term withcorresponding speech patterns of database entries to determine for eachentry of the at least two databases a measure for the matching distancebetween the compared speech patterns to determine at least that databaseentry of each database the speech pattern of which matches thecomparable speech pattern of the search term best, means for selectingthat database entry the speech pattern of which matches the comparablespeech pattern of the search term best from the entries determinedpreviously by searching that measure that indicates the best matchingspeech pattern of the database entries, and means for outputting anidentifier of that database entry that has been selected previously,wherein the identifier of that database entry is entered as a searchterm for an alphanumeric search through the at least two databases,means for storing, on the basis of the entered search term, thepredecessor or a plurality of predecessors and the successor or aplurality of successors to the search term and, if available, the searchterm itself from each of the databases, in a search table memory, andmeans for displaying the search term, if stored in the search tablememory, or that term from the successors stored in the search tablememory which comes closest after the entered search term.
 9. A devicefor searching data in at least two databases comprising: a handset forinputting a search term by speech, a speech recognition front end modulefor processing a sound sequence of the search term to obtain acomparable speech pattern thereof, a speech recognition back end modulefor comparing the comparable speech pattern of the search term withcorresponding speech patterns of database entries to determine for eachentry of the at least two databases a measure for the matching distancebetween the compared speech patterns to determine at least that databaseentry of each database the speech pattern of which matches thecomparable speech pattern of the search term best, a speech recognitionmiddle part module for selecting that database entry the speech patternof which matches the comparable speech pattern of the search term bestfrom the entries determined previously by searching that measure thatindicates the best matching speech pattern of the database entries, anda user interface for outputting an identifier of that database entrythat has been selected previously, wherein the identifier of thatdatabase entry is entered as a search term for an alphanumeric searchthrough the at least two databases, a memory for storing, on the basisof the entered search term, the predecessor or a plurality ofpredecessors and the successor or a plurality of successors to thesearch term and, if available, the search term itself from each of thedatabases, in a search table memory, and a display for displaying thesearch term, if stored in the search table memory, or that term from thesuccessors stored in the search table memory which comes closest afterthe entered search term.